Ghana Government’s 1 Student-1 Tablet in SHS: A great initiative?: Kofi Asare of Eduwatch writes.

Ghana Government’s 1 Student-1 Tablet in SHS: A great initiative? The Africa Education Watch has asked the most critical question that needs urgent answers, thinking, and planning if we are to be proactive in dealing with the most critical problems in the education sector that demand investing the nation’s resources.

Mr. Kofi Asare of Eduwatch writes…

It is great to have tablets for all SHS students. Students can access digital content to enhance their learning experience. Eduwatch advocated for this after wifi was provided in our SHS.

Government has already provided textbooks, ibox, etc, in SHS, making the need for tablets complimentary than urgent, albeit relevant.

In 2023, government increased the free SHS budget by about 30%, but this did not cover tablets, which may cost another billion.

On the flip side, primary schools still do not have all textbooks. Contrary to government’s promise, less than 30% were supplied last year due to financial issues; And we are in year four of a new curriculum. There are schools in Krachi Nchumuru without a single textbook.

Also, less than 15% of the basic school Capitation Grant required for this academic year was budgeted. This is because the free basic education budget was cut by 40%, even as education’s share of the national budget declined to a two decade low of 12.9% due to Ghana’s debt crisis.

In such a period of austerity, why won’t government first find money to provide all needed textbooks and Capitation Grant for basic schools and purchase the tablets when the economic situation improves?

The issue is never whether or not the promise of a tablet for 1.3 million SHS students is possible, but its implications on equitable financing of pre-tertiary education in an austerity. #PayAttention!

SHS students are already enjoying free exercise books, notebooks, calculators, PE kits, school uniforms, school cloth, which are all good, but not available in basic schools. In 2015, Ghana cancelled free execrise books in basic schools and re-introduced same in SHS in 2017.

Across sub sectors and income categories, Ghana is not spending her education resources equitably. We continue to spend three times more on a SHS student compared to a basic school student, and 36 % on the richest 20% compared to 12% on the poorest 20% of learners.

According to UNICEF’s most recent (Jan 2023) report on education financing, Ghana, among other countries cannot transform her education without improving on equitable spending.

The 1 Student-1 Tablet initiative is great; but must be well timed until the austerity pressures on the sector’s resources eases.

A pilot in about 20 SHS from urban, peri-urban Ghana (with internet), and rural SHS without internet should be a great start this year. The lessons from both off and online usage should be useful in enriching a future rollout.

Kofi Asare
Eduwatch
[email protected]
Twitter@KofiEducation